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Newgate Prison was a
prison in London, at the
corner of Newgate
Street and Old
Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a
gate in the RomanLondon Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the
12th century, and demolished 1777. The prison was extended and
rebuilt many times, and remained in use for over 700 years, from
1188 to 1902.

The first prison at Newgate was built in 1188 on the orders of
Henry II. It was significantly
enlarged in 1236, and the executors of
Lord MayorRichard Whittington were granted a
license to renovate the prison in 1422. The prison was
destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was rebuilt in 1672, extending into
new buildings on the south side of the street.

According to medieval statute, the prison was to be managed by two
annually elected Sheriffs, who in turn would
sublet the administration of the prison to private "gaolers," or
"Keepers," for a price. These Keepers in turn were permitted to
exact payment directly from the inmates, making the position one of
the most profitable in London. Inevitably, the system offered
incentives for the Keepers to exhibit cruelty to the prisoners,
charging them for everything from entering the gaol to having their
chains both put on and taken off. Among the most notorious Keepers
in the Middle Ages were the fourteenth-century gaolers Edmund
Lorimer, who was famous for charging inmates four times the legal
limit for the removal of irons, and Hugh De Croydon, who was
eventually convicted of blackmailing prisoners in his care.

Over the
centuries, Newgate was used for a number of purposes including
imprisoning people awaiting execution, although it was not always
secure: burglarJack Sheppard escaped from the prison three
times before he went to the gallows at
Tyburn in
1724. Prison chaplain Paul
Lorrain achieved some fame in the early 18th century for his
sometimes dubious publication of Confessions of the
condemned.

The old prison was demolished and replaced by a new building
designed by George Dance
between 1770 and 1777. He also designed the adjacent court-house.
The new prison was attacked by rioting mobs during the Gordon Riots in 1780: the prison was set on
fire, many prisoners died during the blaze and approximately 300
escaped to temporary freedom.

The prison was rebuilt two years later (in 1782), to an
architecture terrible
design intended to discourage law-breaking. The building was laid
out around a central courtyard, and was divided into two sections:
a 'Common' area for poor prisoners and a 'State area' for those
able to afford more comfortable accommodation. Each section was
further sub-divided to accommodate felons and debtors.

In 1783, the site of London's gallows was moved from Tyburn to
Newgate. Public executions outside the prison - by this time,
London's main prison - continued to draw large crowds. It was also
possible to visit the prison by obtaining a permit from the
Lord Mayor of the City
of London or a sheriff. The condemned were
kept in narrow sombre cells separated from Newgate Street by a thick wall and receiving only a dim light from
the inner courtyard. The gallows were constructed outside a
window in Newgate Street.

During the early 19th century, the prison also attracted the
attention of the social reformer Elizabeth
Fry. She was particularly concerned at the conditions in which
female prisoners (and their children) were held. After she presented
evidence to the House of Commons, improvements were made. In 1858, the interior was rebuilt with individual
cells.

From 1868, public executions were discontinued and executions were
carried out on a gallows inside Newgate. Michael Barrett was the last man to
be hanged in public outside Newgate Prison (and the last person to
be executed in public in Great Britain) on 26 May 1868.

The prison closed in 1902, and was demolished in 1904. The Central Criminal Court (also known as
the Old
Bailey after the street on which it stands) now stands
upon its site.